Determined teen survives hit-and-run to achieve top GCSE grades at Ilkeston school

Liam Norcliffe

A determined teenager who had a lucky escape after being involved in a high-speed hit and run collision weeks before sitting his GCSE exams at an Ilkeston school is celebrating his top results.

Just two weeks before his first exam, AJ Allen, 16, was walking across the pedestrianised Market Place in Ilkeston when he was struck by a car driving at 40mph.

AJ lost four-stone in weight and now wants to be a personal trainer.

The youngster was flung into the air, hitting the windscreen and when the car came to a halt he was catapulted onto the bonnet of another vehicle.

AJ suffered trauma and memory loss as a result of the collision, but remarkably he was back at Ormiston Ilkeston Enterprise Academy within days and has now achieved a place a college with the aim of becoming a personal trainer.

He said: “I knew I needed certain passes to get into college so I was focused on that, I was just relieved when I opened my results.

“I really enjoy training at the gym and want to get into personal training so this allows me to take that next step towards that.”

AJ suffered trauma and memory loss after the collision.

The driver who hit AJ left the scene, leaving the teen’s school friends to call an ambulance and his mum, Lindsey, 36, fearing the worst.

He was rushed to the Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham where he underwent a full body and brain scan but unbelievably was able to be discharged the next day after suffering head to toe cuts and bruises.

Unbelievably, he was back at school within days to take part in revision sessions for his GCSEs.

AJ achieved a Grade 6 in maths, and four Bs in biology, chemistry, physics and finance, amongst many other grades.

He will go to Bilborough College in Nottingham in September to study sport, business and psychology.

His mum, Lindsey, said: “I really feared for the worst in back of that ambulance. He couldn’t see as he was temporarily blind and he asked if he was still alive.

“The ambulance crew was saying he shouldn’t be here after being hit at that speed.

“Today was very a very emotional day for us all and we’re all so pleased that he got the results he wanted so he can go to college and follow his dream of being a personal trainer.”

Nia Salt, principal of Ormiston Ilkeston Enterprise Academy, said: “AJ really embodies that spirt of belief and resilience. He could quite easily have said he was too poorly to take his exams but he didn’t.”